The invention relates to an oil collecting arrangement for an internal-combustion engine having an oil collecting housing arranged below a crankcase, which oil collecting housing has at least two sections of different depths, in a deeper space section, an oil scavenging line being provided by way of which lubricating oil is delivered to consuming devices by way of a pump.
From U.S. Pat. No. 5,103,782, an oil collecting arrangement of the above-mentioned type is known in the case of which the oil pan or the oil collecting housing of the internal-combustion engine has two space sections which have different depths along the longitudinal dimension of the crankcase. In the deeper space section constructed as an oil pan, an oil scavenging device is provided by means of which the oil is returned to the consuming devices. For the targeted return of the oil situated in the flatter space, corresponding oil conducting ribs are provided. During uphill drives, particularly in the case of a motor vehicle having cross-country mobility, there is the risk that the lubricating oil situated in the deeper space will return into the crankcase by way of the flatter space section. In addition to splashing losses, there is the danger that, in the area of the oil scavenging device, insufficient oil will be available for the oil supply to the consuming devices, or that air is taken in instead of oil.
In addition, it is known (see Special Printing from MTZ Motortechnische Zeitschrift 52, 1991, Page 9, 10) to return lubricating oil from the cylinder head by way of oil return ducts integrated in an oil pan top part into the oil sump, which oil return ducts extend to below the oil level.
It is an object of the invention to design an oil collecting arrangement for an internal-combustion engine such that, on the one hand, a reliable and fast oil return is ensured from the consuming devices to the oil sump and that, on the other hand, it is ensured that, also in the case of an inclined position of the internal-combustion engine, a return flow of the lubricating oil from the deeper space section into the crank space and/or into the flatter space section is prevented. With respect to the manufacturing these two functions are to be integrated in a simple manner and therefore also at reasonable cost in the oil collecting arrangement.
The object is achieved in that in the oil collecting housing, a separate insertion part is fastened which, on one hand, has an oil barrier aligned approximately transversely to a longitudinal dimension of the oil collecting housing, which oil barrier prevents a flowing back of lubricating oil from the deeper space section into a crank space or into a flatter space section in an inclined position of the internal-combustion engine and which, on another hand, has oil return ducts for oil flowing back from a cylinder head. The insertion part constructed separately from the oil collecting arrangement is, on the one hand, constructed with an oil barrier required between the two space sections and, furthermore, has oil return ducts by way of which the oil flowing back from the cylinder head directly arrives under the oil level of the lubricating oil situated in the deeper space section. As a result, the oil collecting housing can be manufactured in a simple manner with respect to casting because the two above-described functions are implemented in the insertion part constructed separately with respect to the oil collecting housing.
Additional advantageous embodiments and improvements of the oil collecting arrangement according to the invention are contained in the subclaims. The insertion part consists of a center part having an oil holding edge and an oil partition wall and two side parts in which oil return ducts from the cylinder head are integrated.
The insertion part is advantageously made of plastic and, as a whole, therefore contributes to a weight reduction of the internal-combustion engine. Furthermore, such a plastic insertion part can be produced in a simple manner, for example, by means of injection molding.
An embodiment of the invention is explained in detail in the following description and drawings.